Professional JSP Site Design [Paperback]

Kevin Duffey (Author), Richard Huss (Author), Vikram Goyal (Author), Ted Husted (Author), Meeraj Kunnumpurath (Author), Lance Lavandowska (Author), Sathya Narayana Panduranga (Author), Krishnaraj Perrumal (Author), Joe Walnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2001

The JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Java Servlet technologies provide a flexible and popular basis for developing dynamic web sites and applications, powered by the Java language. A wide variety of components, tag libraries, and application frameworks (such as Struts from the Apache Software Foundation) are becoming available, building on this basis and providing much needed functionality.

This book is designed to take you from a basic knowledge of the JSP and Servlet technologies to a deeper understanding of how best to implement core web site features such as dynamic navigation, page layout, and content management; potentially tricky subjects like managing frames are analyzed and the best approach discussed. The approach is pragmatic: where an open source component exists that provides the necessary functionality, we'll show you how best to integrate it into your own applications rather than inventing your own.

This book covers:

The Apache Struts Framework for Java-based web applications
HTTP and frame-management techniques
The JSP Standard Tag Library (JSPTL) Early Access release
Dynamic navigation and page layout
Error handling and logging for web sites
Strategies for integration with relational databases and J2EE
Security, user management, visitor tracking, and personalization
Content management, searching, and portal sites
A case study of an XML-based application framework

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is for Java developers who want to take their knowledge to the next level by learning how to apply their skills with JSP and Servlets to practical, real-world issues of web site design. Knowledge of the JSP 1.1 and Servlet 2.2 standards, together with the Java language and core APIs, is assumed. An understanding of XML will be of benefit, but is not essential.

About the Author

Kevin Duffey's work soon shifted to the J2EE technology as it became available. At the time the company application only used Java in the web tier, so Kevin focused on mastering servlets and JavaServer pages. While converting the site to JSP, Kevin discovered that MVC and Model 2 development was superior to his present undertaking and soon started on a path to convert the entire site in that direction, using his own MVC framework.

Richard Huss is a Technical Architect in the Java team at Wrox Press, creating titles focusing on J2EE web tier technologies, and can never resist downloading new and interesting open-source Java stuff.

Vikram Goyal has over 5 years of experience in Java, having worked for Ernst and Young LLP, Citibank and Australia's Health Insurance Commission.

Ted Husted is an independent Java developer building Web applications with several Jakarta technologies. Ted is an active Committer to the Struts Framework, and a member of the Jakarta Project Management Committee. He also helps out as Webmaster for WXXI.ORG, an award-winning Website for his local public broadcasting station.

Meeraj Kunnumpurath would like to thank Waheeda, for being what you are and showing me the meaning of this life. Praying for all the suffering innocents in the world. May Allah bless us all!

Lance Lavandowska is a co-founder of Aptura Technologies LLC and has been working with Servlets and JavaServer Pages since 1998. Lance has served as a technical reviewer on various other books, and has contributed to several Apache Jakarta projects and to the Castor project.

Sathya Narayana Panduranga is a Software Design Engineer. Sathya's areas of interest and experience include Distributed and Component based Application Architectures, Object Oriented Analysis and Design, Voice over IP and Convergence platforms.

Krishnaraj Perrumal is a Sun Certified Java Programmer, founder and director of Adarsh Softech at Salem, a consultancy firm providing web solutions to businesses. Krishnaraj also regularly gives presentations on Java and XML, and contributes to magazines.

Joe Walnes currently works at Web-Imps in London. He is experienced with many forms of application development ranging from small devices to large enterprise systems using a variety of technologies. He takes pride in designing and implementing simple solutions to complicated problems and mentoring others in the approaches. More recently, Joe has become an advocate of J2EE and eXtreme Programming (XP).

Product Details

• Paperback: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861005512
• ISBN-13: 978-1861005519
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,779,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent coverage of the fundamental issues., January 12, 2002

By 

Frank Kurka "www.fkx.com www.usedipaq.com" (Newton Upper Falls, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional JSP Site Design (Paperback)

Over the past 3 years a number of issues have surfaced with regard to the development of web sites and applications with Java.

Different appraoches have been tried with certain ones emerging as the winners.

This book identifes and describes the winning approaches in:

- session hassels with frames and page layout
- navigation issues
- security
- personization
- content management
- use of xml in the web site, etc.
- overview of struts and design pattters based on it.

I have sat in many developer sessions where these problems were being discussed and every one of them would have benefited from the insights in this book.

The book ins't for battle hardend veterns who have discovered these answers already the hard way, it is for up and coming developers who whould rather not have to.

Frank Kurka
www.fkx.com
www.usedipaq.com

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good ideas, bad explinations, August 11, 2002

By 

bart wood (UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional JSP Site Design (Paperback)

I hope no one else has the same bad experience as me so this is just a warning. I spent around 20 hours trying to get the example in chapter 2 to work. I've installed apache/tomcat with IIS several times and it has never taken more than a couple of hours -point being figuring out struts shouldn't take very long. After struggling with this book I got another book "Apache Jakarta-Tomcat" and read their 10 page exerpt on struts. The 10 page explination in the Apache book helped me much more than the 63 pages in chapter 2. The explinations were much more clear and the struts frame work was very simple to understand. After reading the apache book I went back through the example found in chapter 2 and found SEVERAL errors in the source code! I wasted a lot of time because I had thought I installed struts incorrectly. It was frustrating to waste so much time just because the source code in chapter 2 was incorrect. If chapter 2 had explained struts more clearly I probably could have caught the errors in the source code. Chapter 2 explains about 500 ideas with no real concrete examples to show you what it's talking about. Then it speeds through an example (that doesn't work) and it doesn't really show you at all how everything is finally tied together.
To be fair, the book does have a disclaimer in the beging which states that it's for more advanced users. So if you aren't very very familiar with struts don't start with this book. Once you get past the struts nightmare the rest of the book is pretty good. I wouldn't say the explinations aren't very good but the ideas they present are very usefull.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn more advanced about Jsp with other techniques., March 18, 2002

By 

Rakesh (Columbia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional JSP Site Design (Paperback)

This book really helps you to kickstart JSP and Struts based development,
This book covers following issues
- an overview of web programming with JSP and Servlets.
- Struts Framework.
- a range of basic techniques for handling the client-side of web site design,
which includes HTTP and browser compability,frames,PopUp windows, Page layouts,
the duynamic constructionof site navigation,error handling and logging.
- tecniques for connecting Java web application to relational database, and for
integrating them as part of an overall J2EE solution.
- security and user management,visitor tracking and personalization.
- XML.It looked at the web application framework that uses XML document fragment
rather than JavaBean when passing data around,making it much easier to integrate
with a web services back end.

Many JSP developers will want to read this book to learn about Struts and other
ways of producing maintainable JSP based web sites.

This is not the kind of book you would read from start to finish but as a quick
overview and reference of some advanced topics. Don't expect to become an expert
by reading this book but you will have a good idea what you can and should do with
JSP. Most JSP developers will find something new in this book but some will require
more detail. We would recommend this book to JSP developers who have read the beginners
JSP books and want to learn more about JSP.